Professed!

Today, just shy of a full, seven calendar years, by the grace of Almighty God, I made my final promise in the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. Below is that promise:

I, Diane Marie of the Eucharist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in response to God’s call, sincerely promise to the Superiors of the Order of the Teresian Carmel and to you my brothers and sisters, to tend toward evangelical perfection in the spirit of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, obedience, and of the Beatitudes, according to the Constitutions of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, for the rest of my life. I confidently entrust this, my Promise, to the Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel.

From time to time I get people making inquiries from different parts of North America, and abroad, about the secular Carmelites.

First, there are many secular orders, as well as lay associations.  Each one of these has it's own charism and role in the Church.  My suggestion is to explore various orders and lay associations to understand where you gravitate - often a sign the Holy Spirit leads you in that direction.  If you are very much into service, then you be sure to explore the secular Franciscans.  Even if you are a great Marian devotee, it does not necessarily mean you are called to Carmel.  It could be the Legion of Mary to which you are called or any number of other Marian-based options.  Marian devotion in any community is a healthy sign, and it is not exclusive to Carmel.  If I didn't see some basic devotion to Mary, and to the Eucharist, I would not explore other options.  If you explore a community and encounter new age practices, radical feminism, or dissident attitudes, look elsewhere.  If you visit a website and can't find links to the Holy See or the local diocese, that may also be a problem.  I was devoted to the Blessed Mother, but was very attracted to the Carmelite works of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, as well.  So, it was a perfect fit for me.  You have to explore.   Here is a list at the Vatican's website. Obviously, most people need something in their community.  Your diocese may or may not be able to help.

All of these will require some lifestyle changes.  There are requirements and in your state of life, you should be able to meet all of those requirements, most of the time.  This takes adjustments and formation programs consider that by giving you time to incorporate them.  In time, if you are called to a particular way of life, God will give you the graces to work through the challenges and get comfortable with it.  If God calls you to something, those requirements become as natural as the hair on your head after several years of practice in formation.

Fr. Aloyisius Deeney, OCD, the OCDS Delegate in Rome, has a blog with addresses he has made in recent years with some information that should be useful in discernment.  The blog has not been updated in recent years, but the information is timeless.  These addresses have been included in a recent book worth getting if you are seriously considering life as a secular Carmelite. Welcome to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites is in book form, and now, in Kindle.

Now, if you are looking to see if there is a community in your area, here are two links I can give you for North America, and one link that may help people in other countries.

• United States: http://ocds.us/
• Canada http://www.ocds.ca/cldir.shtml 
• OCDS Main Website

Update:  I was just alerted to an article at OSV by Elizabeth Scalia on the subject of lay vocations.  Check it out: The Continuum of Oneness.  Scalia is a Benedictine Oblate.

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St. John of the Cross - Carmelite, Confessor, and Doctor of Mystical Theology

Today is the feast day of St. John of the Cross, Carmelite priest, confessor and doctor of the Church.

Happy feast day to my Carmelite brothers and sisters in all branches!

Regardless of where we are in the spiritual life, revisiting what the great mystics say about beginners can serve as a very good examination of conscience. In the early chapters of the first book of the Dark Night of the Soul, the doctor of mystical theology goes through the difficulties experienced by beginners.  Here is Chapter 6 from the first book which discusses "The Imperfections of Spiritual Gluttony".

1. A great deal can be said on spiritual gluttony, the fourth vice. There are hardly any persons among these beginners, no matter how excellent their conduct, who do not fall into some of the many imperfections of this vice. These imperfections arise because of the delight beginners find in their spiritual exercises.


Many, lured by the delight and satisfaction procured in their religious practices, strive more for spiritual savor than for spiritual purity and discretion; yet it is this purity and discretion that God looks for and finds acceptable throughout a soul's entire spiritual journey. Besides the imperfection of seeking after these delights, the sweetness these persons experience makes them go to extremes and pass beyond the mean in which virtue resides and is acquired.


Some, attracted by the delight they feel in their spiritual exercises, kill themselves with penances, and others weaken themselves by fasts and, without the counsel or command of another, overtax their weakness; indeed, they try to hide these penances from the one to whom they owe obedience in such matters. Some even dare perform these penances contrary to obedience.


2. Such individuals are unreasonable and most imperfect. They subordinate submissiveness and obedience (which is a penance of reason and discretion, and consequently a sacrifice more pleasing and acceptable to God) to corporeal penance. But corporeal penance without obedience is no more than a penance of beasts. And like beasts, they are motivated in these penances by an appetite for the pleasure they find in them. Since all extremes are vicious and since by such behavior these persons are doing their own will, they grow in vice rather than in virtue. For through this conduct they at least become spiritually gluttonous and proud, since they do not tread the path of obedience.


The devil, increasing the delights and appetites of these beginners and thereby stirring up this gluttony in them, so impels many of them that when they are unable to avoid obedience they either add to, change, or modify what was commanded. Any obedience in this matter is distasteful to them. Some reach such a point that the mere obligation of obedience to perform their spiritual exercises makes them lose all desire and devotion. Their only yearning and satisfaction is to do what they feel inclined to do, whereas it would be better in all likelihood for them not to do this at all.


3. Some are very insistent that their spiritual director allow them to do what they themselves want to do, and finally almost force the permission from him. And if they do not get what they want, they become sad and go about like testy children. They are under the impression that they do not serve God when they are not allowed to do what they want. Since they take gratification and their own will as their support and their god, they become sad, weak, and discouraged when their director takes these from them and desires that they do God's will. They think that gratifying and satisfying themselves is serving and satisfying God.


4. Others, too, because of this sweetness, have so little knowledge of their own lowliness and misery and such lack of the loving fear and respect they owe to God's grandeur that they do not hesitate to insist boldly that their confessors allow them the frequent reception of Communion. And worse than this, they often dare to receive Communion without the permission and advice of the minister and dispenser of Christ. They are guided here solely by their own opinion, and they endeavor to hide the truth from him. As a result, with their hearts set on frequent Communion, they make their confessions carelessly, more eager just to receive Communion than to receive it with a pure and perfect heart. It would be sounder and holier of them to have the contrary inclination and to ask their confessor not to let them receive Communion so frequently. Humble resignation, though, is better than either of these two attitudes. But the boldnesses referred to first will bring great evil and chastisement on one.


5. In receiving Communion they spend all their time trying to get some feeling and satisfaction rather than humbly praising and reverencing God dwelling within them. And they go about this in such a way that, if they do not procure any sensible feeling and satisfaction, they think they have accomplished nothing. As a result they judge very poorly of God and fail to understand that the sensory benefits are the least among those that this most blessed Sacrament bestows, for the invisible grace it gives is a greater blessing. God often withdraws sensory delight and pleasure so that souls might set the eyes of faith on this invisible grace. Not only in receiving Communion, but in other spiritual exercises as well, beginners desire to feel God and taste him as if he were comprehensible and accessible. This desire is a serious imperfection and, because it involves impurity of faith, is opposed to God's way.


6. They have the same defect in their prayer, for they think the whole matter of prayer consists in looking for sensory satisfaction and devotion. They strive to procure this by their own efforts, and tire and weary their heads and their faculties. When they do not get this sensible comfort, they become very disconsolate and think they have done nothing. Because of their aim they lose true devotion and spirit, which lie in distrust of self and in humble and patient perseverance so as to please God. Once they do not find delight in prayer, or in any other spiritual exercise, they feel extreme reluctance and repugnance in returning to it and sometimes even give it up. For after all, as was mentioned,1 they are like children who are prompted to act not by reason but by pleasure.


All their time is spent looking for satisfaction and spiritual consolation; they can never read enough spiritual books, and one minute they are meditating on one subject and the next on another, always hunting for some gratification in the things of God. God very rightly and discreetly and lovingly denies this satisfaction to these beginners. If he did not, they would fall into innumerable evils because of their spiritual gluttony and craving for sweetness. This is why it is important for these beginners to enter the dark night and be purged of this childishness.2


7. Those who are inclined toward these delights have also another serious imperfection, which is that they are weak and remiss in treading the rough way of the cross. A soul given up to pleasure naturally feels aversion toward the bitterness of self-denial.


8. These people incur many other imperfections because of this spiritual gluttony, of which the Lord in time will cure them through temptations, aridities, and other trials, which are all a part of the dark night. So as not to be too lengthy, I do not want to discuss these imperfections any more, but only point out that spiritual sobriety and temperance beget another very different quality, one of mortification, fear, and submissiveness in all things. Individuals thereby become aware that the perfection and value of their works do not depend on quantity or the satisfaction found in them but on knowing how to practice self-denial in them. These beginners ought to do their part in striving after this self-denial until God in fact brings them into the dark night and purifies them. In order to get to our discussion of this dark night, I am passing over these imperfections hurriedly.

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St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Fr. Mark at Vultus Christi has a good post up on St. Teresa Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein).  Today was her feast day. I've been gone all day and did not have the time today to post on her. So, do check out Fr. Mark's excellent post.

Read more about the life of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross at Vatican.va

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Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Today is a special day for all who wear the scapular, especially for Carmelites. It is the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. 

Assumption Grotto is the home base for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary secular Carmelites (discalced) which meet at the parish on First Saturday's starting with an added Mass time of  8:30am and ending around Noon following refreshments, business meeting, and formation.  Scrolling here will offer some info and good Carmelite articles.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

This feast was instituted by the Carmelites between 1376 and 1386 under the title "Commemoratio B. Marif Virg. duplex" to celebrate the victory of their order over its enemies EWTN's page on the Brown Scapular
on obtaining the approbation of its name and constitution from Honorius III on 30 Jan., 1226 (see Colvenerius, "Kal. Mar.", 30 Jan. "Summa Aurea", III, 737). The feast was assigned to 16 July, because on that date in 1251, according to Carmelite traditions, the scapular was given by the Blessed Virgin to St. Simon Stock; it was first approved by Sixtus V in 1587. After Cardinal Bellarmine had examined the Carmelite traditions in 1609, it was declared the patronal feast of the order.........
it was extended to the entire Latin Church by Benedict XIII. The lessons contain the legend of the scapular; the promise of the Sabbatine privilege was inserted into the lessons by Paul V about 1614. The Greeks of southern Italy and the Catholic Chaldeans have adopted this feast of the "Vestment of the Blessed Virgin Mary". The object of the feast is the special predilection of Mary for those who profess themselves her servants by wearing her scapular

Propers for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (1962 Missal)

At Assumption Grotto, the 7:30am Mass that takes place Monday thru Saturday always uses the 1962 missal and it is typically a sung high Mass.  If you are going to Assumption Grotto and do not have a Missal, you can find the propers for today in this page for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Tridentine Latin Missal Project site.  You can use this for most Sundays and major feasts, as well, so book mark it.


Other good reads found or sent to me today:

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• The most extraordinary event in English history => good music (Rorate Caeli)
• The Brown Scapular turns 760 years old today (Canterbury Tales) 
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Catholic Seeking)
• Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Blessed John Paul II (Dr. Lilles)
• Fr. Bonaventure - Mt. Carmel Spirituality => Podcast (Air Maria)

Related:

• EWTN's page on the brown scapular
• St. Simon Stock and the Brown Scapular (Theotokos)
• A Brief Catechism on the Brown Scapular

Carmelite Items (move through the items with the two arrows; when you click on the one in the center, it will take you to that page at Amazon).

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Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Novena (Begins July 7)

I once had a priest tell me that if you miss a day on a Novena to just do two days together and leave it in God's hands. 

This is coming late in the day, so I am putting up both the first day (July 7) and second day.

For the remaining days, I recommend going to EWTN and bookmarking the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Novena. They have it layed out conveniently for each day, leading up to the feast day, July 16.

First Day

O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother!
(pause and mention petitions)

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

Second Day

Most Holy Mary, Our Mother, in your great love for us you gave us the Holy Scapular of Mount Carmel, having heard the prayers of your chosen son Saint Simon Stock. Help us now to wear it faithfully and with devotion. May it be a sign to us of our desire to grow in holiness.
(pause and mention petitions)

Say: Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.

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The Pope, St. Teresa, and Subjectivism...

The Holy Father addressed the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum on it's 75th anniversary. In his address he spoke of the need for all Christians to have spiritual direction. There's no doubt that a good spiritual director is needed, ideally, by everyone.  As many can attest, finding one is another story.  Sometimes, the next best bet is to read the Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila, or the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis De Sales. 

In the first part of his address Pope Benedict talks about St. Teresa of Avila. He then shifts to talk about spiritual direction. This was particularly interesting (emphasis mine in bold).

As she has never failed to do, again today the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction, not only to all those who wish to follow the Lord up close, but to every Christian who wishes to live responsibly his baptism, that is, the new life in Christ. Everyone, in fact, and in a particular way all those who have received the divine call to a closer following, needs to be supported personally by a sure guide in doctrine and expert in the things of God. A guide can help defend oneself from facile subjectivist interpretations, making available his own supply of knowledge and experiences in following Jesus. [Spiritual direction] is a matter of establishing that same personal relationship that the Lord had with his disciples, that special bond with which he led them, following him, to embrace the will of the Father (cf. Luke 22:42), that is, to embrace the cross.

Human fallen nature functions almost like a set of blinders. Others often see things in us about which we are unaware. When that someone is a trained spiritual director, rooted in the Church's richest understanding of the spiritual life, they can help us to navigate these areas. Teresa is very big on self-knowledge and self-mastery. You really cannot have self-mastery without the former. 
The Holy Father brings up that word "subjectivist". Stop and think for a moment what that means. Here, we have a simple definition from Dictionary.com:

sub·jec·tiv·ism
[suhb-jek-tuh-viz-uhm] Show IPA

–noun
1. Epistemology . the doctrine that all knowledge is limited to experiences by the self, and that transcendent knowledge is impossible.
2. Ethics .

a. any of various theories maintaining that moral judgments are statements concerning the emotional or mental reactions of the individual or the community.

b. any of several theories holding that certain states of thought or feeling are the highest good.

In society today, subjectivism is rampant.  There is a loss of objectivity, yet there must be a balance between the two, and never sacrificing objective truth for the feelings.  In prayer, people make the mistake of thinking that feelings towards prayer at a given moment somehow has an impact on it's efficacy.  Yet, the opposite is often true.  It is when we least feel like prayer and we pray; or, when we don't feel like going to Sunday Mass, but we go despite that "dryness" that it is most precious to God.  Here, it becomes a real act of love because now you do it not for your own sake, but for God's sake. 

Ponder whether feelings are truly the measure of what is good. On the moral front, we know that adultery and fornication are displeasing to God, so much so, that they were written in stone.  But many follow as the anything goes route, "if it feels good, do it".  There are probably more Christian couples cohabitating today than any other time, revealing a sad ignorance of Scripture and far less familiarity with Jesus.  Read Matthew 5:17-20.

17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18* For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19* Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Others will use drugs, steal, defraud others, and even sexually assault and/or commit murder because it feels right at a given moment.  Those things are obvious, but it is the little things we are confronted with each day that we need to examine against something far greater than feelings.  The greatest metric we have is Jesus Christ and he did not live by feelings, but by objective truth.  The many martyrs of the Church would have felt just fine to avoid torture and stay alive, but they followed Christ in conquering feelings, with grace, for the sake of what was good and true.

There's much more that could be said on this and I think the topic of subjectivism needs to be looked at more deeply. 

You can find the full text of the Pope's speech at Zenit: http://www.zenit.org/article-32618?l=english

Catholic Culture has a few more links on this event and the organization.

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Dr. Alice von Hildebrand on Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

Dr. Alice von Hildebrand has written a piece for Inside Catholic on Edith Stein, who became Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  The German-Jewish philosopher and writer was an atheist by her teens, but converted to Christianity in 1922.  After being baptized into the Catholic Church she entered the Discalced Carmelites.  She was martyred in an Auschwitz gas chamber on August 9, 1942.


Go Read: Edith Stein: The Apostate Saint by Dr. Alice von Hildebrand

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Link to Full Text: Holy Father discusses St. John of the Cross

In his general audience this past Wednesday, the Holy Father spoke on St. John of the Cross.  Many of these audiences are found only partially translated (see example here) at the Vatican's website.  Zenit offers us a full translation. 

Follow the link below to continue reading at Zenit.

On St. John of the Cross


"If a Man Has a Great Love Within … He Endures Life’s Problems More Easily"


VATICAN CITY, FEB. 16, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall. In his Italian-language address, the Pope centered his meditation on the figure of St. John of the Cross, priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites and doctor of the Church (1542-1591).


* * *


Dear Brothers and Sisters,


Two weeks ago I presented the figure of the great Spanish mystic Teresa of Jesus. Today I would like to speak about another important saint of that land, a spiritual friend of St. Teresa, a reformer, and like St. Teresa, a member of the Carmelite religious family: St John of the Cross, proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926, and who is traditionally referred to as Doctor Mysticus, "Mystical Doctor."


John of the Cross was born in 1542 in small village of Fontiveros, near Avila, in Castilla la Vieja, son of Gonzalo de Yepes and Catalina Álvarez. The family was very poor because the father, of noble birth from Toledo, was expelled from his home and disinherited for having married Catalina, a humble silk weaver. John's father died when the youth was very young, and at nine years old, John went with his mother and brother Francisco to Medina del Campo, near Valladolid, a commercial and cultural center. Here he attended the "Colegio de los Doctrinos," also carrying out humble works for the nuns of the church-convent of Magdalen.


Subsequently, given his human qualities and the results of his studies, he was admitted first as nurse in the Hospital of the Conception and later in the College of the Jesuits, just founded in Medina del Campo. John entered it at 18 and studied social sciences, rhetoric and classical languages for three years. At the end of his formation, his vocation was very clear to him: the religious life and, among the many orders present in Medina, he felt called to the Carmel.


In the summer of 1563 he began his novitiate among the Carmelites of the city, taking the religious name of Matthew. The following year he was sent to the prestigious University of Salamanca, where he studied Philosophy and Arts for three years. In 1567, he was ordained priest and returned to Medina del Campo to celebrate his first Mass surrounded by the affection of his family.


It was precisely here that the first meeting took place between John and Teresa of Jesus. The meeting was decisive for both: Teresa set forth her plan for the reform of Carmel also in the masculine branch, and suggested that John adhere to it "for the greater glory of God." The young priest was fascinated by Teresa's ideas, to the point of becoming a great supporter of the project. They both worked together for some months, sharing ideals and proposals to open as soon as possible the first house of Discalced Carmelites. The opening took place on Dec. 28, 1568, in Duruelo, a solitary place in the province of Avila.


With John, the first masculine community was formed with three other companions. On renewing their religious profession according to the Primitive Rule, the four adopted new names: John then called himself "of the Cross," the name with which he would later be known universally. At the end of 1572, at the request of St. Teresa, he became confessor and vicar of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, where the saint was prioress. They were years of close collaboration and spiritual friendship, which enriched them both. During that period were written the most important Teresian works and John's first writings.


Adherence to the Carmelite reform was not easy, and it even resulted in grave suffering for John. The most dramatic incident was his seizure and imprisonment in 1577 in the convent of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance of Toledo, which was the result of an unjust accusation. The saint remained in prison for six months, subjected to privations and physical and moral constraints. Here he composed, along with other poems, the famous "Spiritual Canticle." Finally, on the night of Aug. 16-17, 1578, he was able to escape in a hazardous way, taking refuge in the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of the city. St. Teresa and his companions celebrated his liberation with great joy and, after a brief time to regain his strength, John was sent to Andalucia, where he spent 10 years in several convents, especially in Granada. He took on increasingly important posts in the order, eventually becoming provincial vicar, and completed the writing of his spiritual treatises.


Then he returned to the land of his birth, as a member of the general government of the Teresian religious family, which now enjoyed full juridical autonomy. He lived in the Carmel of Segovia, carrying out the office of superior of that community. In 1591, he was relieved of all responsibility and destined to the new religious Province of Mexico. While preparing for the long journey with 10 companions, he retired to a solitary convent near Jaen, where he became seriously ill.


John faced with exemplary serenity and patience enormous sufferings. He died on the night of Dec. 13-14, 1591, while his brothers recited the Morning Office. He took leave of them saying: "Today I am going to sing the Office in Heaven." His mortal remains were taken to Segovia. He was beatified by Clement X in 1675, and canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726.

Now, if you know the Holy Father's style, he is just getting warmed up and providing background.  Continue reading the rest of the address at Zenit. 

http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-31761

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Feast of St. John of the Cross - Prayer and Spiritual Gluttony

It's a special day for Carmelites.  It is the feast of St. John of the Cross. 

It is such a common thing when people begin to take their prayer life seriously, that they become confused when the sweetness of it all is lost, and they give up thinking it is not doing them any good, or that they are doing something wrong.  St. John of the Cross speaks about those pleasures in prayer and how we ought to treat them.

From the Dark Night of the Soul, Book 1
Chapter VI: Of imperfections with respect to spiritual gluttony

6. These persons have the same defect as regards the practice of prayer, for they think that all the business of prayer consists in experiencing sensible pleasure and devotion and they strive to obtain this by great effort wearying and fatiguing their faculties and their heads; and when they have not found this pleasure they become greatly discouraged, thinking that they have accomplished nothing. Through these efforts they lose true devotion and spirituality, which consist in perseverance, together with patience and humility and mistrust of themselves, that they may please God alone. For this reason, when they have once failed to find pleasure in this or some other exercise, they have great disinclination and repugnance to return to it, and at times they abandon it. They are, in fact, as we have said, like children, who are not influenced by reason, and who act, not from rational motives, but from inclination. Such persons expend all their effort in seeking spiritual pleasure and consolation; they never tire therefore, of reading books; and they begin, now one meditation, now another, in their pursuit of this pleasure which they desire to experience in the things of God. But God, very justly, wisely and lovingly, denies it to them, for otherwise this spiritual gluttony and inordinate appetite would breed innumerable evils. It is, therefore, very fitting that they should enter into the dark night, whereof we shall speak, that they may be purged from this childishness.

7. These persons who are thus inclined to such pleasures have another very great imperfection, which is that they are very weak and remiss in journeying upon the hard road of the Cross; for the soul that is given to sweetness naturally has its face set against all self-denial, which is devoid of sweetness

I have likened that sweetness to training wheels on a bike.  It makes sense that to get our attention, God would make prayer pleasurable.  However, more often than not, and for some sooner than others, God pulls the training wheels off.  Then, it becomes a test:  Do you remain in prayer for what you get out of it (the sweetness and pleasure), or do you follow through with your prayer out of love for God?

The above quote was taken from the online Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL).  However, I recommend that if you are going to study any of the major works of the Carmelite saints, to obtain and read first books involving Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD.

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New movie on Carmelite Nuns "breathtaking"... not yet available in USA

You might recall the success of the movie, "Into Great Silence" about the life of Carthusian Monks. 

From Catholic News Agency...

New ‘breathtaking’ documentary examines London’s Carmelite nuns


London, England, Nov 30, 2010 / 02:54 am (CNA).- A “breathtaking” film recording the life of Carmelite nuns at a London monastery took the grand prize at the International Festival of Cinema and Religion in Italy.

Director Michael Whyte’s documentary “No Greater Love” examines the cloistered nuns of the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill. Though centered upon Holy Week, the film covers a year in the life of the monastery and its daily rhythms of Divine Office and work.

[snip]

The International Jury of the International Festival of Cinema and Religion called the film “beautifully crafted” and “a powerful message for those of us who inhabit fast societies that militate against the possibility of wisdom.”


“No Greater Love” was released in the U.K. on April 9, 2010 and was scheduled to be released in Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg in November. It will be released in France on Dec. 29.


The film’s website is http://www.nogreaterlove.co.uk/

See the full article at CNA here

But when will it come to the US?  It seems they are working on it.  From the website above (emphasis mine in bold):

No Greater Love is currently not available in the rest of the world but we will be in touch as soon as it is and post details on the website.


NO GREATER LOVE DVD – F.A.Q.


If I don't live in the UK and Ireland, can I still play the DVD?


The NO GREATER LOVE DVD that is released on June 28th will be a Region 0 format PAL DVD, and will be playable Worldwide.


PAL DVDs might not work on DVD players in countries where NTSC is standard (Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, U.S.A.)

We will just have to wait.  It would be nice if there were one standard for the world. 

Here is the website to the monastery (bells begin ringing as soon as you get there) http://carmelitesnottinghill.org.uk/

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Feast of St. Teresa of Avila

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) by François Gerard (1827)

If one of you should be cross with another because of some hasty word, the matter must at once be put right and you must betake yourselves to earnest prayer. The same applies to the harbouring of any grudge, or to party strife, or to the desire to be greatest, or to any nice point concerning your honour. (My blood seems to run cold, as I write this, at the very idea that this can ever happen, but I know it is the chief trouble in convents.) If it should happen to you, consider yourselves lost. Just reflect and realize that you have driven your Spouse from His home: He will have to go and seek another abode, since you are driving Him from His own house. Cry aloud to His Majesty and try to put things right; and if frequent confessions and communions do not mend them, you may well fear that there is some Judas among you.

From the Way of Perfection, Chapter 7.  This does not apply only to convents, but to any household, or even the workplace.

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Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux - Doctor of the Church

Jesus needs neither books nor Doctors of Divinity in order to instruct souls; He, the Doctor of Doctors, He teaches without noise of words.

Those are the words of  woman declared a "Doctor of the Church" in 1997 by Pope John Paul II the Apostolic Letter Divini Amoris Scientia ("The Science of Divine Love").  Indeed, it is in silence that we hear the voice of God in our hearts. 

Today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Here is a great resource at EWTN with bibliography, quotes, and even a collection of audio in the archive where she was discussed. 

There are some good leads at Wikipedia too.

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Teresa Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Today is the feast day of

Teresa Benedict of the Cross (1891-1942)

(Edith Stein)

nun, Discalced Carmelite, martyr

From the Vatican's website:
 

"We bow down before the testimony of the life and death of Edith Stein, an outstanding daughter of Israel and at the same time a daughter of the Carmelite Order, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a personality who united within her rich life a dramatic synthesis of our century. It was the synthesis of a history full of deep wounds that are still hurting ... and also the synthesis of the full truth about man. All this came together in a single heart that remained restless and unfulfilled until it finally found rest in God." These were the words of Pope John Paul II when he beatified Edith Stein in Cologne on 1 May 1987.
Who was this woman?

continue reading about Edith Stein at vatican.va...



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Feast of St. Teresa of Jesus (St. Teresa of Avila)

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) by François Gerard (1827)

From the Way of Perfection, Chapter 7.  This does not apply only to convents, but to any household, or even the workplace.

If one of you should be cross with another because of some hasty word, the matter must at once be put right and you must betake yourselves to earnest prayer. The same applies to the harbouring of any grudge, or to party strife, or to the desire to be greatest, or to any nice point concerning your honour. (My blood seems to run cold, as I write this, at the very idea that this can ever happen, but I know it is the chief trouble in convents.) If it should happen to you, consider yourselves lost. Just reflect and realize that you have driven your Spouse from His home: He will have to go and seek another abode, since you are driving Him from His own house. Cry aloud to His Majesty and try to put things right; and if frequent confessions and communions do not mend them, you may well fear that there is some Judas among you.

Please pray for all Carmelites today on this special feast day.

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October 1: Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux

I applied myself above all to practice quite hidden little acts of virtue; thus I liked to fold the mantles forgotten by the Sisters, and sought a thousand opportunities of rendering them service.

 ~ Story of A Soul, Chapter VII

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Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a day celebrated especially by Carmelites the world over. This includes secular Carmelites like myself.

The Divine Office speaks about the feast day:

Sacred Scripture celebrated the beauty of Carmel where the prophet Elijah defended the purity of Israel's faith in the living God. In the twelfth century, hermits withdrew to that mountain and later founded the Order devoted to the contemplative life under the patronage of mary, the holy Mother of God.

According to Carmelite tradition, July 16, 1251, St. Simon Stock was given the Brown Scapular by the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Later Carmelite writers give more details of such a vision and revelation. Johannes Grossi wrote his "Viridarium" about 1430, and he relates that the Mother of God appeared to Simon Stock with the scapular of the order in her hand. This scapular she gave him with the words: "Hoc erit tibi et cunctis Carmelitis privilegium, in hoc habitu moriens salvabitur" (This shall be the privilege for you and for all the Carmelites, that anyone dying in this habit shall be saved).

Members of the order had been praying to the Blessed Virgin amidst great trials. The Manila Bulletin Publishing Company adds this interesting note:

Pope John XXII in 1322 decreed a special indulgence for those who die wearing the brown scapular. The pontiff said that Our Lady appeared to him and asked him to specially look after the Carmelites. In addition to this, the Holy Father said, Our Lady promised that all faithful Christians who die wearing a scapular would enjoy early liberation from purgatory with her special intercession before God. The Blessed Mother herself would fetch the pious soul in purgatory the Saturday after their death in order to bring them to heaven. Marian devotees thus call this special intercession the “Sabbatine Privilege’’ (from Sabbath, meaning Saturday).

Air Maria has two key prayers, and a nice write-up.

FLOS CARMELI
O beautiful Flower of Carmel
Most fruitful vine,
Splendor of Heaven,
Holy and Singular,
Who brought forth
the Son of God,
still ever remaining
a pure Virgin,
Assist us in our necessities.
O Star of the Sea,
Help and protect us.
Show us that you
are our Mother. Amen.

Song of Gratitude to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

By St. Therese of Lisieux

From the first moments of my life,
You took me in your arms.
Ever since that day, dear Mother,
You’ve protected me here below.
+
To preserve my innocence,
You placed me in a soft nest.
You watched over my childhood
In the shade of a holy cloister.
+
Later, in the days of my youth,
I heard Jesus’ call!…
In your ineffable tenderness,
You showed Carmel to me.
+
“Come, my child, be generous,”
You sweetly said to me.
“Near me, you’ll be happy,
Come sacrifice yourself for your Savior.”
+
Close to you, 0 my loving Mother!
I’ve found rest for my heart.
I want nothing more on earth.
Jesus alone is all my happiness.
+
If sometimes I feel sadness
And fear coming to assail me,
Always supporting me in my weakness,
Mother, you deign to bless me.
+
Grant that I may be faithful
To my divine Spouse Jesus.
One day may his sweet voice call me
To fly away among the elect.
+
Then, no more exile, no more suffering.
In Heaven I’ll keep repeating
The song of my gratitude,
Lovable Queen of Carmel!

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St. John of the Cross (observed on December 15th by Carmlelites this year)

A beautiful icon of St. John of the Cross by Lynne Taggart, who has created icons of other Carmelite saints

The Feast of St. John of the Cross fell on a Sunday, so we were notified at our last Carmel meeting, that we would be observing it on Monday the 15th.

St. John of the Cross, along with St. Teresa of Avila, founded the Discalced Carmelites. From the online Catholic Encyclopedia detailing the life of St. John of the Cross:

....Already at that early age he treated his body with the utmost rigour; twice he was saved from certain death by the intervention of the Blessed Virgin. Anxious about his future life, he was told in prayer that he was to serve God in an order the ancient perfection of which he was to help bring back again. The Carmelites having founded a house at Medina, he there received the habit on 24 February, 1563, and took the name of John of St. Matthias. After profession he obtained leave from his superiors to follow to the letter the original Carmelite rule without the mitigations granted by various popes. He was sent to Salamanca for the higher studies, and was ordained priest in 1567; at his first Mass he received the assurance that he should preserve his baptismal innocence. But, shrinking from the responsibilities of the priesthood, he determined to join the Carthusians.

However, before taking any further step he made the acquaintance of St. Teresa, who had come to Medina to found a convent of nuns, and who persuaded him to remain in the Carmelite Order and to assist her in the establishment of a monastery of friars carrying out the primitive rule. He accompanied her to Valladolid in order to gain practi cal experience of the manner of life led by the reformed nuns. A small house having been offered, St. John resolved to try at once the new form of life, although St. Teresa did not think anyone, however great his spirituality, could bear the discomforts of that hovel. He was joined by two companions, an ex-prior and a lay brother, with whom he inaugurated the reform among friars, 28 Nov., 1568. St. Teresa has left a classical description of the sort of life led by these first Discalced Carmelites, in chaps. xiii and xiv of her "Book of Foundations". John of the Cross, as he now called himself, became the first master of novices, and laid the foundation of the spiritual edifice which soon was to assume majestic proportions. He filled various posts in different places until St. Teresa called him to Avila as director and confessor to the convent of the Incarnation, of which she had been appointed prioress. He remained there, with a few interruptions, for over five years.....

In some circles, St. John of the Cross is considered with disdain. He was, and is even moreso today, very counter cultural (like many of the saints, and Mary, who have been stuffed into the closet because their words and examples would lead us to include Calvary, to pursue humility, virtue, sacrifice and other things also held in disdain today). In imitating Christ, we cannot simply focus on the Nativity and the Ressurection. Rather, our imitation of Christ must include the Cross. St. John of the Cross teaches us how to die to self, to recognize our worldly attachments so that we may purge ourselves with the grace of God, in pursuit of union with Him.

The world does not comprehend detachment, nor does it comprehend mortification or taming of the will.

In an era when Catholics willfully feed off of shows like Desperate Housewives, we need to step back and examine our every act. What else but our lower nature would attach itself to such things?

Rarely do we hear priests from the pulpit challenge us on what we watch and how we spend our time. Is it pleasing to God? Does it build virtue or fuel vice?

Taming the will or moritifcation went out of fashion decades ago, but does the concept apply today? Yes! More than ever. Our society is filled with examples of behavior whereby people follow their will the way a magnet sticks pulls to metal. When the will is in control, it means trouble. We want to eat as much as we want, to watch TV or be on computer, or play in numerous sports leagues or other activities, but we don't want to cut into these things. Do we spend even a fraction of that time with God, in silent prayer and reflection?

St. John of the Cross challenges us to examine our soul for attachments and gives us an understanding of why mortification is important. If we don't tame our will, our will tames us. If you have ever tried to lose weight, fought an addiction of some kind, or intemperate use of something, you know the power of the will when it is in control.

The best relationship we can have with Jesus Christ is one without boat anchors (attachments).

While St. John is writing the passage below in the context of religious life, there is much here applicable to ordinary people going about their day. It is from the Introduction to the Counsels to a Religious. Added emphasis in bold and [my comments in red]:

3. To practice the second counsel, which concerns mortification, and profit by it, you should engrave this truth on your heart. And it is that you have not come to the monastery for any other reason than to be worked and tried in virtue [are we not to be tried and worked in virtue in our everyday lives?]; you are like the stone that must be chiseled and fashioned before being set in the building. Thus you should understand that those who are in the monastery [or your home, workplace, parish, school, etc.] are craftsmen placed there by God to mortify you by working and chiseling at you. Some will chisel with words, telling you what you would rather not hear; others by deed, doing against you what you would rather not endure; others by their temperament, being in their person and in their actions a bother and annoyance to you; and others by their thoughts, neither esteeming nor feeling love for you. You ought to suffer these mortifications and annoyances with inner patience, being silent for love of God and understanding that you did not enter the religious life for any other reason than for others to work you in this way, and so you become worthy of heaven. If this was not your reason for entering the religious state, you should not have done so, but should have remained in the world to seek your comfort, honor, reputation, and ease.

St. John of the Cross gets at a key point in religious life - that you go there to surrender your all to God. However, out of pure love of Christ, we can work at these things in our everyday lives with those around us. In the same way that a religious offers it up, so should we.

While not all writings are applicable to lay people, many of them are indeed worth contemplating and mining for your state in life. Secular Carmelites, while fully Carmelite, are not bound by some of the same obligations as the priests and religious because when one is married, with children, has work responsibilities outside of the home, some things may not be practical. In a Carmel, one distances themselves from family. Those of us living in the world may ask ourselves, whether we are placing any one person above God. If we place God first, we give our very best to all of those around us, especially those who depend on us.

Here is one last excerpt, this time illustrating the beauty of his writing. It is from the first Chapter of the Dark Night of the Soul (paragraph 2), where St. John talks about the imperfections of beginners:

2. It must be known, then, that the soul, after it has been definitely converted to the service of God, is, as a rule, spiritually nurtured and caressed by God, even as is the tender child by its loving mother, who warms it with the heat of her bosom and nurtures it with sweet milk and soft and pleasant food, and carries it and caresses it in her arms; but, as the child grows bigger, the mother gradually ceases caressing it, and, hiding her tender love, puts bitter aloes upon her sweet breast, sets down the child from her arms and makes it walk upon its feet, so that it may lose the habits of a child and betake itself to more important and substantial occupations. The loving mother is like the grace of God, for, as soon as the soul is regenerated by its new warmth and fervour for the service of God, He treats it in the same way; He makes it to find spiritual milk, sweet and delectable, in all the things of God, without any labour of its own, and also great pleasure in spiritual exercises, for here God is giving to it the breast of His tender love, even as to a tender child.

The "Christ of St. John of the Cross" painted by Salvador Dali, first revealed in 1952.




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October 15: Feast of St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

This is a special day for all Carmelites, including secular Carmelites. Secular Carmelites are mostly lay people, but diocesan priests may belong to the secular order, as well. Two examples are Fr. Perrone of Assumption Grotto and Fr. Robert Altier, formerly of St. Agnes in Minnesota. Fr. Perrone is the spiritual director to our community at Assumption Grotto.

The special occassion is the feast day of St. Teresa of Jesus, also known more commonly as St. Teresa of Avila. She is a doctor of the Church and author of several popular spiritual books. The Way of Perfection and the Interior Castle are among them. You can find these time-tested classics to read entirely online places like the secular Carmelite site. The virtues described in these writings apply to most everyone, which is probably why they are popular.....they hit home.

The Catholic Information Center also carries some of the text online: Here is Chapter 13 from The Way of Perfection:

Continues to treat of mortification and explains how one must renounce the world's standards of wisdom in order to attain to true wisdom.

I often tell you, sisters, and now I want it to be set down in writing, not to forget that we in this house, and for that matter anyone who would be perfect, must flee a thousand leagues from such phrases as: "I had right on my side"; "They had no right to do this to me"; "The person who treated me like this was not right". God deliver us from such a false idea of right as that! Do you think that it was right for our good Jesus to have to suffer so many insults, and that those who heaped them on Him[5] were right, and that they had any right to do Him those wrongs? I do not know why anyone is in a convent who is willing to bear only the crosses that she has a perfect right to expect: such a person should return to the world, though even there such rights will not be safeguarded. Do you think you can ever possibly have to bear so much that you ought not to have to bear any more? How does right enter into the matter at all? I really do not know.

Before we begin talking about not having our rights, let us wait until we receive some honour or gratification, or are treated kindly, for it is certainly not right that we should have anything in this life like that. When, on the other hand, some offence is done to us (and we do not feel it an offence to us that it should be so described), I do not see what we can find to complain of. Either we are the brides of this great King or we are not. If we are, what wife is there with a sense of honour who does not accept her share in any dishonour done to her spouse, even though she may do so against her will? Each partner, in fact, shares in the honour and dishonour of the other. To desire to share in the kingdom [of our Spouse Jesus Christ], and to enjoy it, and yet not to be willing to have any part in His dishonours and trials, is ridiculous.

God keep us from being like that! Let the sister who thinks that she is accounted the least among all consider herself the [happiest and] most fortunate, as indeed she really is, if she lives her life as she should, for in that case she will, as a rule, have no lack of honour either in this life or in the next. Believe me when I say this -- what an absurdity, though, it is for me to say "Believe me" when the words come from Him Who is true Wisdom, Who is Truth Itself, and from the Queen of the angels! Let us, my daughters, in some small degree, imitate the great humility of the most sacred Virgin, whose habit we wear and whose nuns we are ashamed to call ourselves. Let us at least imitate this humility of hers in some degree -- I say "in some degree" because, however much we may seem to humble ourselves, we fall far short of being the daughters of such a Mother, and the brides of such a Spouse. If, then, the habits I have described are not sternly checked, what seems nothing to-day will perhaps be a venial sin to-morrow, and that is so infectious a tendency that, if you leave it alone, the sin will not be the only one for long; and that is a very bad thing for communities.

We who live in a community should consider this very carefully, so as not to harm those who labour to benefit us and to set us a good example. If we realize what great harm is done by the formation of a bad habit of over-punctiliousness about our honour, we should rather die a thousand deaths than be the cause of such a thing. For only the body would die, whereas the loss of a soul is a great loss which is apparently without end; some of us will die, but others will take our places and perhaps they may all be harmed more by the one bad habit which we started than they are benefited by many virtues. For the devil does not allow a single bad habit to disappear and the very weakness of our mortal nature destroys the virtues in us.

Oh, what a real charity it would be, and what a service would be rendered to God, if any nun who sees that she cannot [endure and] conform to the customs of this house would recognize the fact and go away [before being professed, as I have said elsewhere], and leave the other sisters in peace! And no convent (at least, if it follows my advice) will take her or allow her to make her profession until they have given her many years' probation to see if she improves. I am not referring to shortcomings affecting penances and fasts, for, although these are wrong, they are not things which do so much harm. I am thinking of nuns who are of such a temperament that they like to be esteemed and made much of; who see the faults of others but never recognize their own; and who are deficient in other ways like these, the true source of which is want of humility. If God does not help such a person by bestowing great spirituality upon her, until after many years she becomes greatly improved, may God preserve you from keeping her in your community. For you must realize that she will neither have peace there herself nor allow you to have any.

As you do not take dowries, God is very gracious to you in this respect. It grieves me that religious houses should often harbour one who is a thief and robs them of their treasure, either because they are unwilling to return a dowry or out of regard for the relatives. In this house you have risked losing worldly honour and forgone it (for no such honour is paid to those who are poor); do not desire, then, that others should be honoured at such a cost to yourselves. Our honour, sisters, must lie in the service of God, and, if anyone thinks to hinder you in this, she had better keep her honour and stay at home. It was with this in mind that our Fathers ordered a year's probation (which in our Order we are free to extend to four years): personally, I should like it to be prolonged to ten years. A humble nun will mind very little if she is not professed: for she knows that if she is good she will not be sent away, and if she is not, why should she wish to do harm to one of Christ's communities?[6]

By not being good, I do not mean being fond of vanities, which, I believe, with the help of God, will be a fault far removed from the nuns in this house. I am referring to a want of mortification and an attachment to worldly things and to self-interest in the matter which I have described. Let anyone who knows that she is not greatly mortified take my advice and not make her profession if she does not wish to suffer a hell on earth, and God grant there may not be another hell awaiting such a nun in the world to come! There are many reasons why she should fear there may belt and possibly neither she nor her sisters may realize this as well as I do.

Believe what I say here; if you will not, I must leave it to time to prove the truth of my words. For the whole manner of life we are trying to live is making us, not only nuns, but hermits [like the holy Fathers our predecessors] and leading us to detachment from all things created. I have observed that anyone whom the Lord has specially chosen for this life is granted that favour. She may not have it in full perfection, but that she has it will be evident from the great joy and gladness that such detachment gives her, and she will never have any more to do with worldly things, for her delight will be in all the practices of the religious life. I say once more that anyone who is inclined to things of the world should leave the convent[7] if she sees she is not making progress. If she still wishes to be a nun she should go to another convent; if she does not, she will see what happens to her. She must not complain of me as the foundress of this convent and say I have not warned her.

This house is another Heaven, if it be possible to have Heaven upon earth. Anyone whose sole pleasure lies in pleasing God and who cares nothing for her own pleasure will find our life a very good one; if she wants anything more, she will lose everything, for there is nothing more that she can have. A discontented soul is like a person suffering from severe nausea, who rejects all food, however nice it may be; things which persons in good health delight in eating only cause her the greater loathing. Such a person will save her soul better elsewhere than here; she may even gradually reach a degree of perfection which she could not have attained here because we expected too much of her all at once. For although we allow time for the attainment of complete detachment and mortification in interior matters, in externals this has to be practised immediately, because of the harm which may otherwise befall the rest; and anyone who sees this being done, and spends all her time in such good company, and yet, at the end of six months or a year, has made no progress, will, I fear, make none over a great many years, and will even go backward. I do not say that such a nun must be as perfect as the rest, but she must be sure that her soul is gradually growing healthier -- and it will soon become clear if her disease is mortal

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